Is it really over?
by Person37
Summary: Takes off from where the games ends. SeeD is needed once again to fight another threat. Meanwhile Galbadia prepares to strike again.
1. Victory Ball!

All FF8 characters and places are copyright of Squaresoft.

This is an attempt to continue an already great story and to add some of my own imagination to it. Please read and review and I will happily continue. Thanks in advance.

****

PROLOQUE 

VICTORY BALL

Is it finally over? Am I really here or is this some horrible trick of Time Compression making me think that I am here. Looking back over the last two weeks I am amazed at all that has happened in the world and my involvement in it. Starting with the duel with Seifer Almasy that gave me a permanent scar on my forehead and from there I guess you could say that all hell broke loose. Over two weeks I went from a SeeD candidate to Saviour of the world, as people around the planet are calling me and my friends. I don't think of it that way though. At first it was just a mission that I was ordered to do but it quickly became much, much more when I met Rinoa Heartilly who managed to break through every barrier I had built to protect myself from getting to close to people. Hell, I'm not saying that it was just her, it was also the rest of my comrades who helped to make me realize that I don't have to be a lone wolf and that I can trust people. 

As I stand here staring at the stars from my vantage point on the balcony pondering all of this I can hear the sounds of people inside the ballroom cheering and celebrating. It's strange but for the first time I actually feel like going and joining them. Just as I am about to turn and go back in I notice out of the corner of my eye a blaze of light across the night sky. Looking up I realize that it is a shooting star much like the one at my graduation ball two weeks ago. Following its path across the horizon I turn and suddenly I realize I'm not the only one out here. Rinoa had followed me out here and was watching the sky as well. As our eyes met I suddenly realized I was doing something very unusual! I was smiling. I couldn't help it though and I really didn't care because I was looking at the most beautiful women I had ever met. Moving towards her I put one arm around her and held her close. Before I realized it I was pulling her close and kissing her. After what seemed like an eternity we slowly pulled apart and looked out at the stars together while still holding on to each other. 

"WOOOOHOOOOO, GO SQUALL!" "GO GET EM COWBOY!"

Spinning around I realized that Quistis, Irvine and Selphie were all standing inside the door of the ballroom. The latter two being the ones yelling and whistling at Rinoa and me. Quistis on the other hand had a complete look of surprise on her face. 

"Hey Squall, your turning at least ten shades of red" whispered Rinoa. 

"Whatever."

That was all Quistis needed to hear to yell, "Oh no! It's the old Squall" "Quick Rinoa run before he gets all broody on us." 

Thinking to myself that I wished I hadn't left my Lionheart gunblade in my dorm I decided to do the next best thing.

"CAST SILENCE" I yelled and then turning to Rinoa I stated "Shall we dance!" With this remark we stepped past the three jokers in front of us and headed for the dance floor. 


	2. Enemy or Friend?

All characters and places still belong to Squaresoft.

****

CHAPTER ONE

ENEMY OR FRIEND?

Fisherman's Horizon, a peace loving community located along the transcontinental railroad in the middle of the ocean and the philosophy here is that you can solve any problem by talking about it and without resorting to violence. It is also the biggest supplier of both sea food and skilled mechanical laborers. Mayor Dobe is in charge here and likes to try to keep out anyone who would cause trouble. At least he always has done his best. But in the last several weeks he has had his hands full what with Balamb Garden crashing into the side of FH(locals call Fisherman's Horizon by its nickname FH so that they don't spend half of the day saying it's name.) And then shortly after that Galbadian soldiers trying to burn the city down in order to locate Ellone Loire to hand her over to sorceress Edea. 

But now he isn't sure how he feel about the philosophy of FH anymore, mostly due to the fact that Squall Leonhart and his friends had to use force in order to save his life and most likely everyone in town. His wife Flo wasn't much help because she hadn't seen what had transpired on the steps of the old train station when he tried to reason with the Galbadian commander. Fortunately though it looked like things would return to normal soon thanks to the efforts of both SeeD and the country of Esther. Having defeated the sorceress and returning Time back to normal had put life pretty much back to normal for FH.

|-------------------------------------------------------------------| 

Sitting on the docks and fishing is a big pastime for a lot of people in FH because its always quiet and peaceful. At least it normally is.

"Man, why isn't anything biting dammit?" yelled a man sitting at the end of the docks who was apparently having some very bad luck at trying to catch a fish. In fact his pole was taped together because he had broken it in a fit of rage the previous day.

"Its cause ya gotta have talent, ya know."

"Oh shut the hell up Raijin!" replied Seifer.

"I just trying to be helpful, ya know. " 

Seifer who was getting very pissed off at the incredible luck Raijin was having decided he couldn't take it any longer and simply asked, "Fujin, would you do the honors here?"

"PLEASURE" "MINE" And with that the white haired girl with an eye patch snuck up behind the big dark skinned buffoon (also known as Raijin) and kicked him square in the rear end sending him tumbling into the water for the second time in two days. 

|-------------------------------------------------------------------|

BALAMB GARDEN

CURRENT LOCATION: ESTHER COASTLINE

****

BAM!BAM!BAM!BAM!

Laying in bed I wondered if I ignored whomever was knocking if they would go away or if they would keep pounding. It felt like I had only been asleep for two hours or so. 

****

BAM!BAM!BAM!BAM!BAM!BAM!

"Nope, I guess not." I mumbled to myself. Sitting up I looked over at my clock and realized why I was so tired. I really had only slept for two hours. 

"Yo, Squall, get up we have to meet Headmaster Cid up on the bridge for a meeting."

"I'm up, Zell! I'm up!" Getting up out of bed I looked around and found a clean set of clothes which I hastily threw on and then unlocked the door for Zell so that he could enter. Once the young martial artist came in I realized that my room was trashed from having Selphie, Quistis, Irvine, Zell and Rinoa over last night after the victory ball. 

"Wow, we really made this place a mess last night didn't we." 

"Yeah I would say so, Zell." I replied with as much sarcasm as I could muster this early in the morning. "Do you know why the Headmaster called the meeting by any chance?"

"Yup, do ya wanna know?" 

"That would be why I asked?" I replied.

"Well, he has a mission for us to go on." Answered Zell and then went strangely quiet.

"And?" I asked, starting to get slightly peeved at the tattooed young man.

"Nope, that's all I know." 

"Gee thanks a lot Mr. Know-It-All Zell." 

"Okay, come on I'm ready let's go." And with that I grabbed my gunblade and my ammo belts and we headed out the doors to go to the bridge. On the way there I couldn't help but notice how much damage Balamb Garden still had from it's battle with Norg and with Galbadia Garden when Seifer was leading its armies. There's still bullet holes in a lot of the walls and scorch marks from magic spells on a lot of the floors. As we waited for the elevator to reach the third floor I couldn't help but wonder what had happened to Seifer after our last battle with him in the Lunatic Pandora. Was he still alive or was he trapped in Time Compression like I had been. I made a mental note to see if there was any word out about his whereabouts because if he is still out there then he might be plotting revenge against us. 

My musings were cut short though as the bell chimed announcing our arrival on the bridge. As I walked in I noticed that the rest of the team was already assembled. Leaning against the wall on the left were Irvine and Selphie, who were quietly talking to Quistis who was standing a little farther down from them by the lift that takes you up to the flight deck and the controls for Garden's pilot. Sitting in front of Cid's desk was Rinoa who was listening to something Cid was telling her. When Cid looked up and saw that everyone was there he stood up and greeted us. " Ah good morning gentlemen glad to see you all here." 

At those words all of us who were SeeDs quickly gave the salute and stood at attention. Cid quickly responded "At ease everyone, I have several different things on the agenda for this morning so I will get started immediately. First off, I want to congratulate you all again for a very well done job with stopping Time Compression. It was work befitting of a SeeD. Which brings me to my second part of the agenda, which is to welcome both Irvine Kinneas and Rinoa Heartilly to SeeD. Considering what you all went through I think that they have more than shown they are qualified to join SeeD.

At hearing this Rinoa quickly started jumping up and down and then latched on to my arm so hard that I thought she might pop it right off my shoulder. Irvine on the other hand was much more laid back about it and simply offered a SeeD salute and answered "Thank you sir."

Once I managed to calm Rinoa down Cid was able to continue, "As you know, Esther is still overrun with monsters from the Lunar Cry caused by Adel when she awoke from her Stasis Tube. Esther has asked for SeeD's help in ridding its city of these monsters. There have been reports that a lot of these monsters are attacking in unison and showing more cunning then should be normal for them. Squall, I want you to pick three of your team to investigate this and find out if someone or something is behind this and stop them when you find them." "Whoever you choose will depart this afternoon and head for the Presidential Palace where they will be briefed further by President Laguna Loire."

Meanwhile you and the rest of your team will take the Ragnarok and head for Deling City to find out who is running things over there. Even though Vinzer Deling and Ultimecia are defeated there are still several high ranking officials who sided with Deling in the Second Sorceress War. You need to find out if they pose a threat to SeeD or the Gardens at this time." With that Cid dismissed us and I followed everyone down stairs to the main floor to discuss who was going where. 

Quistis turned and looked towards me to see if I had made a decision yet. I think she knew that I hate this part because I always that someone I send somewhere will get hurt or killed. Looking around I decided to send Irvine and Selphie along with Quistis to Esther to investigate the monster problems. That left me with Rinoa and Zell. It made sure that both team had an even balance of power and magic. Once I told everyone where they were headed we got ready to go our separate ways. "Everyone take care of yourself okay."

"You got it Cowboy!" replied Irvine, which caused Selphie to smack him upside the head and to say "Quit trying to act so macho you big doofus."

"Good luck Squall"

"You too Quistis" I replied before heading towards the garage which had recently been converted to leave enough room to hold our ship the 'Ragnarok'. 

"Hey Squall do we have time grab some hotdogs from the cafeteria before we take off?" Asked Zell. This of course sent Rinoa into a fit of laughter when she saw the look on my face. Zell quickly took the hint and stated "Never mind just a thought."

"Let's go." As I walked away I couldn't help but turn to look at there receding backs and I suddenly had a horrible feeling that something very bad was about to happen.

|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

FISHERMAN'S HORIZON

LATER THAT SAME DAY

"Come on you two, Its time to go pay some people a visit at my old home!"

"Ya got it, ya know!"

"AFIRMITIVE!"


	3. The Mission!

****

Still don't own any of the Square characters!

CHAPTER TWO

THE MISSION

CARAWAYS MANSION

As he had done every morning for as long as he could remember General Caraway was at his office window bright and early to watch the sun rising over the distant Galbadian coastline. Normally when he did this it would help to get his day off to a good start. Unfortunately today wasn't one of those days. Mainly due to the fact that he had his hands full trying to bring order back to the government and also trying to ferret out anyone who still held allegiance to President Deling even after his death in the hands of the possessed Sorceress Edea. The government and military officials who had been against Deling when he was still alive had put Caraway into a position of temporary leadership until an election could be held to figure out who would be the new president. The problem was the fact that many high up officials, who had been part of Deling's plans, were fighting to take control and many of them were just as bad as the last president. 

Also to top it all off there were rumors of revolt by the citizens of Galbadia who were fed up with the government's apparent lack of action. 

Ah Rinoa what have I done? Why didn't I see this coming and do something about it? Why didn't I try being your father instead of a general? Why? Why? Why?

Looking at his watch the general realized that his staff would be arriving soon so he pulled himself out of his self induced bout of misery and straightened his uniform. Turning around he walked towards his desk to see if he couldn't try to get some paperwork done before others started to show up.

He also mentally told himself to find Rinoa and try to make up for all the years he had lost.

Outside of the door to his office a man carrying a tray of food walked up and knocked lightly on his door.

Caraway, hearing this stood up and walked briskly over to the door. Opening the door the general found himself face to face with a man wearing a cooks uniform and carrying a silver tray.

"Where's Gregory? He always bring my breakfast."

The man looked up and replied, "Ah, he unfortunately couldn't make it?"

"Why is that, he's never been sick a day in his life?" 

Without saying anything else the man pulled the lid off of the tray and instead of food pulled out a gun which he used to shoot the general twice in the chest before he could even react to the weapon. 

"That's why!"

Using a small radio that had been in his pocket the man quickly sent out a signal that said, "Stage one complete, now set the charges for one hour and retreat to the rally point in Winhill." "Inform the men in Esthar that Caraway is dead which means they can go for target two."

Clicking off his radio the man turned and walked away whistling some offbeat tune the whole time.

RAGNAROK

CURRENT LOCATION: APPROACHING DELING CITY

TIME: 50 MINUTES LATER

"YO, Squall we're almost within visual range of Deling. Can you come up to the bridge, I'm going to need your help landing?"

"I'm on my way Zell." 

"Come on Rinoa it's just about time to disembark" 

"Good, because I don't think Angelo can hold his bladder for very much longer." 

Turning to Rinoa who was standing next to me on the observation deck of the Ragnarok I replied as best I could to what I hoped was just a joke, and putting my hand up to the scar on my face to try and hide the smile I felt sneaking its way onto my face. 

"Whatever." 

"Now who's fault is it for leaving their Gysahl tea and grilled Chocobo nuggets sitting right next to a dog whose appetite matches that of a T-Rexaur?" 

"Geez sorry" I replied, "I didn't think he was in the room. At least I'm not like Zell because then he would have probably eaten his weight in hotdogs!"

"Oh, you mean Mister, 'I can eat thirty-two hotdogs in one sitting,' Dincht?" 

"Ha, I'm surprised I never thought of that one." "Oh well, we had better get up to the bridge before Zell decides to try and land without us. He's still taking lessons from me and Selphie and we haven't gotten that far yet in his training." With that said we turned and walked out to the lift that would carry us up to the bridge. 

Once there we strolled forward to where Zell was sitting in the pilots chair. "How long until visual range, Zell?" After a few seconds pause to confirm he turned and exclaimed, "Any second now and it should be showing up."

Walking over to the copilots seat I sat down and did a quick check of all system before flipping on the computer for the landing cycle. Finally I turned to the ship-to-ship radar and checked to make sure that we weren't about to crash into anything. I always hate it when that happens. Oh well what are the chances of that happening twice in three weeks.

"There it is, Squall." 

Sure enough there was Deling City right ahead of us. "Zell, I'm taking control so you can release the auto-pilot." Seconds later I heard the computer beep signaling that we were under manual control. 

"Oh Hyne, Squall we have a ship on a collision course heading right for us!" 

"I see it! I see it!" Directly ahead and less than half a mile away I saw something I found rather hard to believe. It was another Ragnarok! 

Rinoa had also noticed this and apparently had the same question running through her head because at the same time as I was attempting to change course before we hit she was yelling something about "I thought this was the only Ragnarok left?" 

I only had a few seconds to decide what to do so I did the only thing I could. I slammed down hard on the stick to avoid the other ship which had been steadily climbing the opposite direction the we had been descending. "Zell, Rinoa hold on this is going to be close!!!!!" 

WHAM!!!!

BOOM!!!!

"Crap, Squall we're coming in to fast! Pull up. Pull up."

"Hold on!" I realized that the ship had knocked out our thrusters and we were about to hit the ground going a little faster than you normally want to. O.K. make that a lot faster. 

Looking over at my friends I realized that Zell was still buckled in so he should be fine but it was then that I realized much to my horror that Rinoa was still standing and when we hit she would get thrown straight forward into the window.

Without even taking a second to think about my own safety I quickly jumped and grabbed her and wrapped myself around her to try to shield her as much as possible by putting myself between her and the window. Unfortunately though, before I had a chance to pull us both to the floor I felt the Ragnarok slam into the ground which caused us to fly forward and slam into the window.

I felt probably the worst pain I had felt in my whole life as I hit but mercifully everything went black after that…..

TO BE CONTINUED………

Authors note: Sorry anyone who is reading this but it's a cliffhanger. I was going to have more in this chapter but I have a lot of things planned for them so it will be its own chapter. I will also have Seifer getting a bigger part. Actually there are going to be three plots which will eventually tie into one and Seifer will be involved in one of them. PLEASE READ AND REVIEW.

Oh yeah the next chapter will probably be up later today or early tomorrow.


	4. Omega!

****

FF8 copyright Squaresoft!

CHAPTER THREE

OMEGA

On the outskirts of Deling city, not far from the Car Rental facility is the main power plant which supplies energy to run most of central Galbadia. Many residents work there to support there families. But what they don't know is that underneath is a government facility which the military uses to perform tests on scientific subjects ranging from enemy soldiers caught during war and even several different species of monsters from around the world. Most of the testing is to try and find a way to force the subjects to do whatever they are ordered and to never ask questions. 

Down on the lowest level is where they keep the most dangerous of monsters. Especially the newest acquisition that had been captured right after the end of Time Compression. This one is a particularly strong and very dangerous monster. Standing a good twenty-five feet tall and at least fifteen feet long this monster had a skin harder than any armor currently known to man. It has a body of a dragon and a upper torso which resemble a demented looking knight wearing very thick armor and had arms which ended in nasty looking claws which could easily cut a Ruby Dragon in half. 

It had been found unconscious and severely beaten not far from the Tomb of the Unknown King. The soldiers had transported it to the Research facility immediately and the scientists began tests to determine what it was. 

It is currently held in a sealed containment room to keep it from escaping back out into the world. At least until they find out how to control it. 

On most mornings the lab is filled with activity. This morning, however, is very different. Not a single scientist or soldier is moving along the halls or working in the labs. In fact none of them are even alive. Every body in the facility is riddled with bullets or burnt to a crisp by strong fire magic. The only thing stirring was the monster on the bottom level. It had pretended to just be a stupid monster that didn't know anything other than mindless destruction. He had pretended to be unconscious when the men found him and brought him in so that he could heal from his fight with those stupid twerps from the past who had killed his sorceress. And now, he sensed that something was about to happen that would allow him to fulfill Ultimecia's last wish as she had sent him backwards through time. 

On the outer door to his chamber a timer was slowly counting down to his freedom.

5…..

4…..

3…..

2…..

1…..

0………………

****

BOOOOM!!!!!!!!

The bomb did exactly what it was supposed to do. It started by blowing the locks off of the door and then the secondary charges blew the remainder of the door clear across the room allowing the monster known as Omega Weapon to escape to finish his job. 

The total annihilation of SeeD.

****

|----------------------------------------------------------|

"Squ…….ake up……an you…hear…"

Who is that? Where am I? I can't remember what happened?

Wait it's coming back to me. The other Ragnarok flying straight towards me and then slamming into the ground. I grabbed Rinoa to try to protect her. 

RINOA!!!!!

"Back up….Rin…" "I'm going ….cast…..uraga on him."

I could feel a cool soothing feeling build up around me and then I felt my body begin to slowly knit itself back together. I could tell I was regaining consciousness because I could hear Zell and Rinoa talking above me.

"Booya, I told ya it would take more than that to hurt Squall!"

Slowly sitting up I looked at my surroundings and realized that they must have carried me out while I was still unconscious from the crash. "Are you guys O.K.?"

"Yeah, we're fine, but you really had us worried there for a while."

"Sorry Rinny, I didn't mean to scare you but I couldn't just sit there while you crashed into the window."

"It's O.K. I'm just glad your better now."

I stood up and looked over to where the Ragnarok was resting against a rock embankment and noticed that it didn't seem all that damaged. "Zell, have you had a chance to check out the ship's condition yet?"

"Yeah she seems to be fine other than some body damage and we might need to recalibrate the main thrusters." said Zell before continuing, "It shouldn't take me more than an hour to get her up and flying again."

Thinking this over in my head I decided to have Zell stay and fix the Ragnarok while me and Rinoa headed into Deling City to see if we could find out anything about the ship that had almost turned us into pancakes. 

"Rinoa, let's head into town and see what we can find out while Zell stays and works on the ship." With this said I turned to Zell and told him that we would meet back at this position in one hour. 

"Everyone make sure your G.F.'s are equipped and don't let your guard down because chances are there are a lot of people here who probably still don't like us."

Turning away from the ship Rinoa and me started our trip towards town. And of course it didn't take long before the first encounter with a monster. It actually caught us by surprise because it was hiding behind a large outcropping of rock up the trail a little ways ahead of us. I almost laughed when I realized it was a single Grat just like the ones we have in the Training Center back at Balamb Garden. Unsheathing my gunblade I guickly jumped forward and with a single downward swipe managed to remove a good portion of its tentacles. It countered by turning and trying to slamm two more of it tentacles into my side. I managed to dodge one but the other cut into my upper leg and stung like hell. Recovering I dived forward and slammed my blade straight into it upper torso. Realizing that I wasn't an easy meal it tried to pull itself away but before it could I pulled the trigger on my gunblade causing a shell to explode in the chamber and send a massive pulse down the blade straight into the creatures chest. It made one final gurgle and fell over dead. 

Turning back to Rinoa I started to move towards her when she suddenly pointed and screamed, "Squall, look out, there's more coming!" Right as I started to spin around to see what she was talking about I was caught right upside the head by the tentacle of another Grat. It threw me back several feet but I managed to keep my footing and as soon as I came to a stop I quickly concentrated on a Blizzaga spell which I threw at the monster. It froze it in it's track and when the magical ice melted away it fell over dead. Looking up I realized that there were at least another 30 Grats charging down the trail at us. I could see that Rinoa was preparing to throw several magic spells of her own at them but I also knew that it wouldn't be enough so I reached into the part of my brain where the G.F.'s reside and thought "Diablos, I'm going to need your help here."

****

"WITH PLEASURE" I swear Diablos is more blood thirsty than even Seifer because every time I call on his aid it seems as if I can almost hear a deep guttural laugh as he prepares to summon himself into battle.

A few seconds later I felt as if my body was growing and changing shape as it faded away and Diablos came forth and prepared to unleash his 'Dark Messenger' attack. Reaching up into the sky Diablos called forth a large black liquid orb of antimatter which he then reached into and charged it up with his own gravity energy before slamming it down onto the battle field and brutally crushing most of the Grats. He then burst into a swarm of bats and disappeared back into his place inside of my mind. 

Regaining control of my body I quickly scanned around to see how Rinoa was doing. She was about twenty feet away using her Wishing Star projectile weapon which attaches to her arm and easily taking out the few Grats that were still standing. Within moments it was over. Grabbing an elixir out of the pouch on my belt I downed part of it to help heal my leg and to regain some of the energy I used calling forth Diablos.

"You okay Rinoa?" 

"Yeah, but didn't that seem kind of odd to you Squall, I mean have you ever seen that many Grats together at one time." Come to think of it she did have a good point. "You're right it was almost as if they were running from something. Well there's only one way to find out so lets get going."

I sheathed my gunblade after wiping it off on the grass nearby and then walked over to Rinoa who was already waiting for me a few feet up the trail. We then continued walking up towards the top of the hill where we would get our first view of Deling City. Within minutes we were at the top and what we saw horrified me.

Even from a distance we could see that the city was in turmoil. Several building were burning and others were just completely gone. Even the archway where we had attempted to assassinate Sorceress Edea was damaged. The whole top part of the arch was gone and the walls looked like they would fall down any minute.

We began making our way into town to see if we could figure out what had happened and before long came across a group of people who were in the progress of trying to get tickets for a train out of town. I walked up to one of them and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned and when he did we both did a double take.

"Wedge" It was one of the galbadian soldiers who I had fought with several times over the last several weeks. 

"AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" He then feinted and collapsed to the ground. Oh boy this was definitely turning into one of those days. After several minutes I gave up and used one of my Phoenix Downs on him to wake him up. When he finally woke up he looked up and started screaming, "Don't kill me, Don't kill me."

"We're not going to kill you we just want to know what happened here and then we'll leave you alone." I stated and then waited for him to compose himself.

Wedge finally calmed down enough to explain, "I was walking back to work at the Car Rental Agency when I heard this loud explosion come from the power plant. Since I used to be a soldier I ran over to see if I could be of any help. But before I could get over there, there was a loud boom and all of a sudden the side of power plant blows out and this huge monster comes barreling out and starts tearing buildings apart. Five squads of soldiers tried to fight it but it tore threw them like they weren't even there and then it took off towards the coastline."

"What kind of monster was it?" I asked while trying to figure out what could do this much damage in such a short time and tear through fifty highly trained soldiers as if they were Bite Bugs.

"I don't know, I've never seen anything like it before." He paused before continuing, "But I think they got it on a camera. It should be on television."

"O.K. next question then. Where's the nearest television?" 

Rinoa spoke up next and told me there was me there was one right next door in a restaurant. So after letting Wedge run off to the train station again we headed next door to see what we could find out. When we got there the building was packed and I had to force my way through with Rinoa following in my wake. Once close enough to the T.V. I looked up and almost feinted when I saw what it was that had done all this damage.

Omega Weapon!

"Squall, what is it? You look like you just saw a ghost."

I turned to her and tried to think of some way that this was possible. "Rinoa, remember when we were in the future at Ultimecia's castle and Irvine, Zell and me accidently ran into that Weapon that she had in the chapel?"

"Yeah, we thought the three of you were goners but we were to far away to help and by the time we got there you had already killed it with your new limit magic 'Renzokuken Lionheart'"

"Well, that monster is it and now it's here in our time for some reason. It must have been pulled through Time Compression like I was."The whole time we had been talking we had been walking and we now found ourselves in front of Rinoa's fathers house. 

"Maybe my father knows something, lets check with him and find out." She said this but I could tell she was nervous due to the fact that her and her father didn't get along to well. " You sure you are up to that?" I asked her.

"Yeah as long as you don't leave me alone in that house with him." With this said we walked up the stairs and opened the door. Once inside it was obvious that something was very wrong. Last time we had been there the house had been spotless but this time everything was torn about and thrown about. I pulled out my gunblade and began to make my way up the stairs to the second floor and Caraways office, which was the most likely place he would be. I could see that the door was cracked slightly and when I looked down I could see a highly polished military boot sticking out of the door partially holding it open. Unfortunately, so did Rinoa.

"DAD!!!!!" she yelled and then shoved by me and ran into the room to where her father was laying on the floor. I kneeled down next to him and checked for a pulse but I didn't have much hope considering he had two bullet wounds to his upper chest. Which is probably why he scared the crap out of me when he started coughing. Rinoa sat next to him and undid his shirt and sure enough he was wearing body armor. Once he had fully regained consciousness and was able to talk he tried to explain what had happened up to and after they shot him. "Once they shot me they didn't even bother to check my pulse those amateurs. I played dead and I was able to overhear them talking about stage two and something about the Esther president. After that I blacked out." 

The Esther President!!!!!

Laguna Loire!!!!!

The Moron!!!!

Also the man I just found out was my father.

While this was sinking in Rinoa was filling her dad in on what was going on outside. As soon as she finished I told them what my next plan was. "Rinoa we're going to get your father to the Ragnarok and then I'm going to drop all of you off at Balamb Garden and head to Esther to try and stop them from killing my father! I just found him and I am not about to lose him again!"

"Squall, did you just say what I think you did?" 

"Yeah, I just found out a few days ago. Laguna is my dad." With that said I helped Caraway out to his car outside and began our trip back to the Ragnarok. Rinoa who had been digesting this new information finally spoke up just as the Ragnarok came into view, "I'm coming with you!" 

I turned to her while trying to watch the road and stated "No, you stay with Zell and your father and make sure he stays safe because once whoever did this finds out he's alive they might make another attempt so its up to you two to make sure he stays safe. 

We stopped the car and got on the Ragnarok which Zell had just gotten up and running and within minutes I was at the controls heading towards Balamb Garden. The whole time I was hoping that I could get to Esther before it was too late……… 

****


	5. Hyperion!

****

CHAPTER FOUR

HYPERION

Walking along the transcontinental railroad tracks is not something you would normally want to do. But if you don't have a vehicle then it's the only way to get to Timber and from there you can get a train to Balamb Town. After that it's a quick drive to Balamb Garden. For Seifer Almasy the trip was being made even worse by the fact that Raijin wouldn't shut up for one minute during the trip across the railroad bridge. At least Fujin was there to kick Raijin in the shin every once in a while and give Seifer something to laugh at. And now that he was on a train he could get some peace and quiet finally.

**BAM! BAM! BAM!**

"Raijin if that's you then you better hide real quick like!"

"NEGATIVE"

"What is it Fujin?"

"ENTER?"

"Fine but make it quick!" Quietly opening the door to Seifer's room Fujin stepped in and walked over to where he was standing and staring out the window at the underwater tunnel they were currently traveling through. 

"WHY?" She was wondering why he was going back to Balamb Garden when he would most likely be arrested and charged with multiple war crimes.

"Because I have to Fu" he replied and then paused before continuing "Did you know that the first thing I remember since the day I went to Timber to help Rinoa is your speech to me about friendship while we were in the Lunatic Pandora. Everything else is just a fog. So I guess you could say that I feel guilty about everything that happened even if it wasn't actually me. Ha, it's kinda funny to think that I'm sorry about something. That's a secret between me and you O.K. I can't have anyone think that I have lost my arrogance." 

Turning back to the window Seifer began to ponder what would happen when he arrived at Balamb Garden. Most likely he would be put in shackles and then shipped off to Esther to be tried. His only hope would be to talk to Cid or even Edea about his situation before it happened. A few minutes later he heard the door open followed by a loud booming voice yelling "We're there, We're there! This is going to be so exciting man! Do you think they'll let us head the Disciplinary Committee again?"

"RAIJIN! OAF!" Thud.

"OWWWW" "Do ya always have to kick me, ya know?"

Seifer couldn't help but to throw his head back and laugh at the sound of his two friends arguing in the background. Even though he had told them the risk of going back and then told them that they should stay at FH so that they didn't go to jail along with him they had simply stated, "But Seifer, we're a Posse, ya know." "AFFIRMITIVE"

And that had been that.

Turning to look at them he thought for a moment about staying on the train and going back to FH but quickly pushed the thought aside. Seifer Almasy was many things but a coward he was not. "Lets go!" 

Putting his gunblade 'Hyperion' in its scabbard on his side he strode from the train and out into the warm sunny atmosphere of Balamb Town. He suddenly realized how much he had missed Balamb Island. He had lived there since he was little after all.

"Seifer everyone is staring at us, ya know."

"Well then Raijin maybe you should get a move on then before someone starts yelling Trai…."

"TRAITOR"

"Shit, too late, quick head for the Car Rental Facility and let's get out of here." Seifer yelled before taking off towards the other side off town. Once there he ran up to the young clerk and yelled, "Hey you, get me a car now!"

"Sorry we're all out of cars to rent to the likes of you." The clerk instantly regretted those words though as he suddenly found himself looking down the wrong end of a gunblade. "Ummm…. Nevermind I just realized we have a car that's available." With that he tossed Seifer the set of keys to a car that was right outside of the building.

Once inside the car they started it up and headed in the direction of Balamb Garden. In a few short minutes they found themselves at the main gates. Getting out of the car they started walking towards the gate. They only made it a few feet though before they found themselves confronted by several SeeDs and all of them were armed to the teeth. Realizing he needed to do something to calm them before one of them decided to shoot first and ask questions later, Seifer slowly pulled Hyperion out of his scabbard and stuck it in the ground and then backed away from it. Turning to his companions he told them to do the same. 

Seifer then stepped forward and yelled, " I didn't come looking for a fight, I only wish for a chance to speak to either Headmaster Cid or Edea." He saw movement behind the row of SeeD's and strained to see who it was. But before he could, the front SeeD stepped forward and it was then that he recognized Xu. 

"Why did you come here Seifer?" "Some trick to get you inside the Garden and then you start killing people like last time." 

"No, I wanted to apologize to the Headmaster and his wife and then I will be on my way." 

Xu stood there for a minute contemplating this and was about to tell him to go away unless he wanted to be put under arrest when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning slightly to see whom it was she immediately recognized the kind face of Edea. 

"Let him in child, I will be responsible for his behavior." She stated in a way that left no room for argument. She then walked up to Seifer and stared him in the eyes as if having a staring contest. Seifer felt a strange feeling in his head almost as if his mind were being picked clean but once it was over he felt better than he had in weeks.

"Come with me all of you I will take you to see the Headmaster. We have been expecting you." 

Authors Note: Sorry all if this chapter is kinda short but I have big plans for the next chapter. And it will be longer than any of my other chapters yet. And hopefully better. Again please READ AND REVIEW. And thanks the everyone who has reviewed. As long as people continue to review and let me know that I should continue than I will. Oh yeah it will be probably four days before anymore comes out since I will be away from my computer. Once I get back though expect to see 1 or two chapters a day.


	6. Trouble in Esther!

TROUBLE IN ESTHER!

CHAPTER FIVE

ALL CHARACTERS AND PLACES STILL BELONG TO SQUARESOFT. I TRIED BREAKING IN AND STEALING THEM BUT IT WAS TOO WELL GUARDED.

Esther President Laguna Loire stood at the window to his office completely lost in thoughts about many different things. There was one thought that stood out above all. As far as he was concerned it was more important than all other issues, even the monster problems that his city was facing. 

Unable to decide on his own he chose to call his two Presidential Aids in to ask their opinion on what he should do. They both had offices right next to him so they were there in no time at all.

Kiros Segal and Ward Zabacc entered the room shortly after Laguna called for them. Unsure as to what he needed from them, they stood quietly and waited for him to speak. They also wondered whether it would be something important of just one of their long time friends off the wall ideas.

"Hey guys! I need your input on what I should get for lunch. I can't decide on pizza or meatloaf." 

Realizing that it was one of his brain overloads and not something important Kiros resisted the urge to walk over and smack him upside the head. Barely! Ward on the other hand stepped forward and looked as if he was about to do just that.

"…….!" Even though he could no longer speak out loud, due to Laguna getting them lost deep in enemy territory and then getting them in a fight on the top of a cliff, which had cost him his voice box, he still managed to make them know what he was thinking. Mainly with facial expressions and occasional brute force on Laguna. 

"Ward says that you should be getting ready to meet with the three SeeDs since they should be here at any time." "Or did you forget already?" 

"Uhhhh? No I didn't forget, Kiros, I was just…..uhm…..testing you guys! Yeah that's it."

"OK, well they should be arriving by train any minutes so lets get going and worry about lunch later." Replied Kiros before turning and following Ward out of the room. 

Laguna simply stood there for a minute scratching the back of his head and thinking to himself that he really needed to get a date book to keep track of all his appointments. He then followed his friends out the door to head for the train station.

|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

****

ESTHER TRAIN STATION

"Awwww… come on Selphie!" 

"Irvine, I already told you I will not go on a date with you in the middle of a mission! Now if you don't quit begging I'll make you clean the engines on the Ragnarok when we get back to Balamb Garden. I do out rank you as a SeeD after all." 

Irvine took this as his queue to change the subject and turned to Quistis who was standing on the other side of the room by the doors to exit the train, "So, Quisty where are we meeting Laguna?" 

"He should be waiting around here somewhere so we'll find him once we disembark." She paused for a second before continuing, "Speaking of which, the train stopped moving five minutes ago, but you two were so busy flirting that you didn't even notice."

"Now come on and help me look for the President before he thinks we missed the train." She then turned and strode out of the train and immediately began scanning the area looking for their contact. It only took a few minutes for them to locate him. In fact he was being dragged by Kiros and Ward and muttering something about missing the turn for the food court. 

As soon as Selphie spotted him she began jumping up and down and yelled, "Sir Laguna, Sir Laguna we're over here! Booyaka it's so exciting to see him again isn't Irvine?" 

"Yeah, but not as exciting as seeing your beautiful face, my darling." At the look on her face he immediately regretted his words. She looked as if she was about to beat the living crap out of him.

Quistis simply chose to ignore the two and walked over to where the others were standing. "Mister President, SeeD Team Leader Quistis Trepe and fellow SeeD's Selphie Tilmitt and Irvine Kinneas reporting for duty as requested by your government." She stated the SeeD greeting and then bowed to show her respect. Laguna looked at her and burst out laughing. Not sure why, she stood up straight and looked at him in a confused manner.

"Quistis you guys really don't need to be formal with me. I hate the title of Mister President anyways. Besides, thanks to Ellone you guys have all been in my head at one time or another." "Now how about we head back to the palace and I can tell you what has been happening lately." 

Everyone grabbed their things and fell into step behind Laguna, Kiros and Ward. They headed for the skylift and prepared to get onto the next car when they heard a loud roaring from behind them. 

Irvine pulled his shotgun 'Exeter' out from its place inside his brown trenchcoat and spun around, not exactly sure what he was dealing with since there were so many different monsters still loose from the Lunar Cry. All he could see were two enormous clawed feet several yards away. He looked up and then he looked up even further and realized he was staring at the biggest T-Rexaur he had ever seen! It was easily twice as big as the one in Balamb Garden's Training Center! 

"What the Hell! How did that thing get in the city? It should have been seen long before now?" Laguna yelled before diving out of the way as the beast stepped forward and attempted to flatten them. He looked over at Kiros and Ward and saw that they had gotten out of the way to but they had just ran into two Toramas and were engaged in a fight with them.

Irvine stepped forward and cast Blind on the creature's head, hoping it might help if the T-rex couldn't see them. Then he noticed the large gray metal band around its neck. "Quistis, any idea what that thing is around its neck?" But before she could reply he was picked up and thrown backwards ten feet when the monster spun and used its tail like a bat to send him flying. He smacked into the safety wall for the elevated platform and collapsed to the ground. 

Selphie saw this and ran over to him to see if he was okay. She bent down and cast Curaga on him to help wake him up and then turned and swung her 'Strange Vision' nunchakus at the T-rex. They smacked into its upper leg but didn't even phase it. She backed up and cast Ultima at it. 

Quistis had been attacking from the other side but she wasn't having much luck either so she quickly cast Scan to see what weaknesses the thing might have. It didn't show any at all which was strange for a T-rexaur. What scared her the most was the fact that it had a Vitality and Strength that were off the chart. "Selphie, do you have any Meltdown spells to cast? They might help!"

"No, Irvine does, but he's still unconscious." 

Laguna chose this time to run over to Quistis and mention that there were several more fierce looking monsters heading up the street. Quistis saw them and decided that it was time to beat a hasty retreat before they were overrun. "Laguna can you have Ward grab Irvine? We need to find somewhere safe to regroup and figure out what is going on."

"Yeah, the Presidential Palace is well guarded and it's not far from here so lets head there." Laguna took a second to bend down and pick up Irvine's gun. Then, checking to make sure it was loaded he told Ward to grab Irvine and to head for the palace. 

Selphie fired off one last Ultima at the T-rexaur before turning and following the rest of the group as they headed down the street for the two block run to the palace. As she passed the spot where Ward and Kiros had killed the Toramas she bent down and picked up one of the strange collars that it had been wearing. 

She quickly caught up with the rest of the group and within a few minutes they were at the palace entrance. 

Kiros looked around as they walked inside and noticed that the guards were nowhere to be seen. "Laguna, you didn't fire the guards again did you?" 

"No, I didn't!" He looked around and realized that in fact the palace appeared to be empty. "Lets head to my office and try to figure out what in the hell is going on." 

The group silently made there way up to the second floor and into Laguna's office. Once inside, they laid Irvine down on the couch in the corner and walked over to the computer terminal at his desk. Kiros punched in his code and a map of the city appeared. All over it were red X's marking monster sightings and attacks. 

Kiros then brought up a map of the palace to check for signals from the guards radio headsets. They were all showing up in a large storage room in the basement of the palace. He next tried contacting them to see what their situation was but got only static from the speakers. 

"We have a problem. Laguna the radios are all being jammed and all the guards signals are showing up in the main storage hangar."

Quistis heard this and began to figure out what she thought was going on, "Guys, I think that the monster attacks were just a diversion to spread out your troops around the city. We need to find out who is doing this and stop them before they can cause too much damage."

Selphie remembered the collar device she had picked up and carried it over to show to Quistis. "Quisty, I think this might be part of the answer," she handed over the device before continuing "It was around the necks of all the monsters we encountered."

Laguna took a look at it and began to say something about it just as the door to the office blew off its hinges and fell to the side. Twenty men wearing Galbadian military uniforms poured into the room and surrounded the five people at the desk and two more stood over Irvines unconscious form on the couch. They all had machine guns aimed and ready. Behind them another man wearing a high ranking uniform strode forward and clapped before speaking.

" Congratulations, you little SeeD twerps are smarter than I gave you credit for. I didn't think you would figure it out that quick." He paused and looked at Laguna before continuing, "oh and I wouldn't recommend trying to attack me or my men because I have a friend of yours who wants to say hello." He turned and snapped his fingers at the guard nearest the door. The guard stepped outside and dragged in a girl with a bag over her head. The man grabbed the bag and yanked it off of the petite girls head to reveal Ellone.

Laguna burst into a fit of anger and looked like he was about to dive for the officer when Ward grabbed him by the shoulders and shook his head indicating that it would be a bad idea. 

The officer simply laughed and then stated "I suggest you do what I say when I say or your friend is going to get an extra hole in her pretty little head" He looked over at Ellone before turning his attention back to the group by the desk, "Now if you would all drop your weapons on the floor and follow me."

Authors note: Sorry it took so long to get another chapter out. Hopefully people like this one. Please review and let me know. Thanks to those who have reviewed. It is nice to know that someone is actually reading this. Have a good night. 

Oh yeah, I might have another chapter out this morning or at the latest tonight.


	7. Out of the Frying Pan.

****

OUT OF THE FRYING PAN….

CHAPTER SIX

I don't own FF8. The evil Shinra Corporation does……DOH……I mean Squaresoft!

RAGNAROK 

CURRENT LOCATION: APPROACHING ESTHER CITY 

"Esther City Air Station do you copy… I repeat do you copy?" I was starting to wonder why no one was answering at the Air Station since they do have the best radar technology on the whole planet. They should have picked me up quite a while ago but I still was getting no answer from the controller. Oh well I guess I'll just land anyway if they aren't going to answer.

I had dropped Zell, Rinoa and her father off at Balamb Garden without incident and I was now within a few minutes of landing at Esther. I planned on linking up with Quistis, Irvine and Selphie as soon as I could find them. I had a feeling I would probably need their help. I figured if I could find them and Laguna then we should have some time to try and figure out whom was responsible for the assassination attempt on General Caraway and to find out what they want with Laguna. Not to mention the fact that Omega Weapon is running around loose somewhere. That is a fight I am not looking forward to. Last time almost killed us. 

I could see that the Air Station was directly below me so I slowed down and then lowered the ship's altitude until I was resting on the docking platform. I swiftly shut down the engines and stood up to try and get a better look around the area to try to see if anyone was working in the vicinity of the ship. Seeing no one around I grabbed my weapon off of the seat next to me and headed for the rear of the ship. I made a quick stop in the storage room off of the main hangar and grabbed any supplies I might need while in Esther. I stuck the magic items and potions in the pouch on my waist and also stuck some extra rounds for my gunblade and Irvine's shotgun into both of my ammo belts. Needless to say I was starting to get a very bad feeling about the silence I was getting from Esther. Someone should have noticed a giant fire red spaceship landing. After all it isn't exactly an inconspicuous ship. 

Once out of the ship I headed for the control tower to see if I could find out what was going on. The door was covered in scorch marks and I noticed several guns lying on the ground. Upon closer inspection I could tell that they were the types of weapons used by Esther soldiers. And from the looks of it they had been fighting recently, since the guns were still warm. Heading inside the tower and up the stairs towards the top I began to hear voices on the top floor. I crept slowly towards the door to the communications room and when I was close enough I slid it open a crack to look inside.

Inside were three Galbadian soldiers huddled in a circle, arguing what to do about the ship that had just landed. Apparently they had been so busy that they hadn't noticed me get off of the ship. 'Crap' I thought to myself 'they're wearing the green uniforms of Galbadian Special Forces.' Which meant that there were probably a lot more of them nearby. I was just about to back up and go back down the stairs when a door opened on the other side of the communications room and a red armored soldier walked in. The other three stood at attention and saluted him.

"Sir, we just had a Ragnarok class ship land on Platform A. It landed but no one has left the ship yet. What are your orders Sir?" 

The commander looked at the Ragnarok out of the window and then turned back to the group, "Nothing, we just received word from the General that the target has been captured and we can begin withdrawal immediately. We are to escort the prisoners to a cargo boat that is waiting outside of the city. We will receive more orders once onboard." I didn't wait to hear anything else because they were starting to move towards the door and I doubt that they would take to kindly to my eavesdropping on their conversation. Doubling back down the stairs I then ducked off into a side room and waited for them to pass on their way out. Once they did, I silently began following behind them as they headed towards the city entrance closest to the coastline. About half way there I swear I felt vibrations in the ground as if something very large was walking nearby. Looking around I couldn't see anything so I shrugged it off and continued on towards the entrance to the city. Surely someone in Esther had to have noticed that there were Galbadian troops running around and notified the army. But as far as I could tell there was no one coming. It was almost as if the city was abandoned. 

Or held hostage!

****

MEANWHILE

PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE

"Quistis, what should we do?" Selphie had no idea how they were going to get out of this one but they needed to think of something quick. Looking over to Quistis she could see that she seemed to be trying to figure that one out herself. Whatever they did, Irvine would be of no help because he was just beginning to regain consciousness over on the couch. Unfortunately the guards had noticed this and were starting to put handcuffs on him. They than attached a circular metal band around his arm. It was covered with crystals of different colors and seemed to glow. She knew she had seen one before but she couldn't place where that was. Then it came to her! Rinoa had one when they had tried to assassinate Sorceress Edea. It was an Odine Bangle to prevent them from using their GF's and magic abilities. And it looked like they had one for everyone. 

Quistis had come to the same conclusion also and was trying to think of a way to get all of them away safely. But with Ellone held hostage and with so many guns aimed at them she couldn't think of anything that wouldn't end up getting one or all of them killed. "Selphie drop your weapon and do what they say. We don't have a choice."

The general listened to all of this and decided that he had waited long enough. "I suggest you do as she says, little girl, or you won't walk out of this room alive. Now, Mr. President why don't you and your aids come over here and go with these men." He paused while they walked over to the men by Irvine and seemed to be thinking before continuing, "You know, A SeeD team leader would make an excellent extra hostage to go along with the president!"

He then pointed at Quistis and directed her over to where Laguna, Kiros and Ward were being tied up and directed one of his men to do the same to her. Once he was satisfied that none of them posed a threat he turned to one of his men and told him, "Take them to the airship I will be along shortly." 

The men guarding Quistis, Ellone, Laguna, Kiros and Ward each grabbed one of them and quickly whisked them out the door towards the waiting ship outside the palace.

"Sir, what about these two?" asked one of the remaining guards, pointing at Selphie and the now conscious Irvine. 

"Take them to the cargo ship and give them to the scientists. They need more subjects for monster testing." 

At hearing this Irvine made to jump for the general but only managed to get cuffed upside the head and fall to the ground. He looked up at the smirking face of the general and had to resist the urge to spit on him. The only reason he didn't was because his mouth was so dry he probably couldn't spit anyway. 

"You won't get away with this. SeeD will come after you and stop you." He yelled as Selphie knelt down beside him and tried to calm him down.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked.

"Oh it's not me, its who I work for who is behind all of this." He replied "and SeeD can't do a single thing about it." "In fact before all of this is over SeeD won't even exist." 

"So, Galbadia is up to its old tricks again?" asked Irvine "Didn't you guys learn your lesson the last time."

"Who said anything about the Galbadian government being involved?" The general laughed again before continuing on, "If you are talking about those soldiers over there, than you are mistaken! "

"Those are simply soldiers loyal to Vinzer Deling. Before Vinzer died he set up a contingency plan in case anything happened to him. And I am one of those people whom he entrusted to carry it out." 

"So why kidnap the president of Esther?" exclaimed Selphie.

"Because before all of this is over Esther will belong to Galbadia like it should! And once SeeD falls with them there won't be a soul on this planet that can stop us!" 

Selphie replied with the only thing she could think of, "MEANIE!!!"

The general then looked at his watch and exclaimed, "Now if you don't mind I have a plane to catch. And you two have an appointment with the doctor aboard the ship! So long SeeD's." With that he turned and strode from the room. 

Once outside he stopped and turned to one of the guards outside the door, "Oh, and lieutenant, make sure the Doctor knows that they are not to leave the ship alive!" He then turned and walked away.

The soldiers quickly grabbed Selphie and Irvine and began dragging them towards the city entrance. Once outside they walked up to an idling car and shoved the two of them in the backseat. Irvine decided that since force wasn't going to work he would try reasoning with the guards.

"Hey you guys know that that psycho general's plan is never going to work. So why don't you untie us and help stop him before anymore innocent people get hurt?" 

Two of the guards simply looked at him and then kicked him in the stomach. They looked as if they were planning to do more when a man who Irvine hadn't seen before walked up behind one of the soldiers. He grabbed him and threw him into the side of a building across the street as if he weighed nothing. He then turned to Irvine and Selphie and slapped a piece of tape over their mouths to shut them up. 

"Keep your mouths shut, you stupid SeeD's!"

Without saying anymore he turned and climbed into the front of the car and directed the driver to head for the entrance. It was only a few minute drive before they arrived at the gate. Once there Selphie and Irvine were once again dragged out of the car and deposited on the side of the road to wait with the soldiers. 

One of Selphie's guards turned to the man who had put the gags on them and asked what they were waiting for. 

"We're waiting for the squad from the Air Station to show up and take the prisoners before pulling out by helicopter. I just radioed them and they said they were on their way and that they should be here within the next five to ten minutes. They will then leave for the cargo ship. Meanwhile we will meet up with the rest of the forces." "The Air station squad will stay on the ship to support the Doctor and his team of scientists." 

Selphie and Irvine, who had been listening to this whole conversation turned to look at each other. They both knew that this was probably it for them. Irvine couldn't help but laugh (or at least attempt to laugh through the gag!). It seemed like a rather boring way to go after all they had been through in the recent weeks. 

Selphie could feel a tear trying to force its way out of her eye as she looked at Irvine. They had just met each other again after so many years apart. They had even gone on a few dates recently and to be honest she was really starting to fall for the guy. None of that mattered now. Unless some miracle happened they were both about to end up dead. 

They both stared at each other for several minutes until Irvine reached out his hand and put it on top of hers as best he could. They stayed like that for some time until they heard the sounds of an approaching helicopter coming in. 

As soon as it landed they were tossed inside with the other soldiers who had just arrived. One of them was carrying a bag that looked like it contained their weapons. He could see the grip of his shotgun and Selphie's nunchaku's along with what looked like the very tip of a black handle. It was probably Quistis' whip. Strange though, he thought her whip was a gold color. Of course he never had paid that much attention to it. 

He looked out the side of the helicopter and could see that they were already leaving the coastline behind and heading towards a large ship in the distance. 

Two of the three guards across from him were keeping their guns aimed at them in case they tried anything. The other one just sat there and held the bag. 

Within moments the helicopter was setting down on deck of the ship and they found themselves being force marched by one of the soldiers across the ship and down several flights of stairs until they were led into a large room filled with all sorts of scientific equipment and various different computers. Men in white lab coats scurried around carrying clipboards and testing equipment for, who knows what, kinds of tests. The soldier with them led them up to a large and robust man who was busy shouting orders. 

He looked up and smiled at them like they were old friends. He then walked up to the remaining guard and started whispering something in his ear. He then turned back and said, "Ah, I am so glad to see that you have arrived so that we can start on our testing. Your escort will take you to the main hold where you can meet a friend you ran into in Esther." Do you have any words before you go?" 

"MMPHFPMFPF!"

"Oh pardon me I am so forgetful. Guard, take their gags off. They have no need for them anymore." 

The guard removed the gags and then asked, "You SeeD's ready to say hi to your friend now?"

Selphie turned to him and replied, "Why don't you take this Odine Bangle off and I will let you know."

The scientist merely laughed and turned back to his computer as he answered, "Take them away."

So once again they found themselves being dragged down strange hallways until they came to a large door near the back of the ship. Once there the guard unlocked it and shoved both of them through into the poorly lit room on the other side. They stood back up and immediately started trying to untie themselves. Irvine was almost done when he first heard the noises at the other end of the room. Looking that way he realized that the room they were in was huge. He could barely see the other end of it. He could see the pair of red glowing eyes moving towards them. 

His heart skipped a beat as he realized who there old friend was. 

The monster T-Rex from Esther. And it looked hungry.

Grabbing Selphie he dragged her towards the far side of the room in an attempt to get behind the T-Rex. It worked but once he got over there he realized there were no doors or stairs that they could use. Selphie looked and saw that the monster was turning towards them but there was nowhere to run. Irvine saw this to and grabbed Selphie and held her tight against him. The T-Rex was now all the way turned and started walking towards them. It stood over them and stared for a moment before lunging at them with mouth wide open.

|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

****

MAIN ENTRANCE 

ESTHER CITY

It was all starting to make sense now. They take control of the city by holding the President hostage. Crap that means they must have already caught Laguna! What about Selphie and Irvine? And Quistis? I couldn't afford to ponder this though because the group of soldiers I was following was approaching the main gates and I could see that there was a squad of ten waiting for them along with another man who wasn't wearing any uniform. He had black armor with an emblem of a silver jackal on his upper body and also had elbow and knee armor on of the same color. It was worn over a plain red shirt and pants. 

What really caught my attention was the fact that Selphie and Irvine were bound and gagged, sitting on the ground in between the soldiers. I needed some way to get closer undetected so I started looking around and found a fire escape that led up to the top of a two story building. And from there it was just a short leap over to the next building that would put me directly above the Galbadians position. I took my gunblade and its scabbard and tied them to my back so that they wouldn't get tangled up with my feet while I was climbing. Once done I jumped up the short distance to the ladder and began pulling myself towards the top of the building. Once to the top I quickly ran the distance to the next building and jumped across. From my vantage point above the soldiers I could here them talking about a ship and picking up prisoner to take with them. I had to find a way onto that ship. Looking over at the group by the gate I realized that they were still out of sight of the others. Standing up I moved back to where I had climbed up the ladder.

I looked down and realized that I was in luck because one of the soldiers I had been following had fallen back a little. As the other two turned the corner I cast a Sleep spell on him and jumped down next to him. Before he could react to me or warn they others the Sleep spell kicked in and he collapsed. I caught him before he fell and began pulling his armor off and slipping it on over my clothes. It bulged a little from too much clothing underneath but I should be OK as long as no one looked to closely. Once I was done I picked up the bag he was carrying and looked inside. WOW. Talk about luck, it was Irvine and Selphie's weapons! I slipped Lionheart in with it and ran to catch the other two guards, right as they arrived at the gate. 

Within moments a helicopter arrived and I found myself straight across from Irvine. I thought about going for the guards then but I didn't like the odds when they had guns aimed at two of my friends. So I contented myself to sit and wait for wherever it was we were going.

I didn't have to wait long because a short time later I felt the helicopter begin to descend towards a ship below us. Within moments we were off the ship and walking across the deck. I was about to follow Irvine and Selphie when the other guard turned to me and said to follow him.

'Damn, I cant get to far away or I'll never find them again', I couldn't create a scene without giving away who I was so I followed the guard around the corner hoping it was just a different way to go where the others were. When he turned towards the stairs going up I decided that I couldn't wait any longer. So I did the nicest thing I could think of at the moment. I hit the guard in the back of the head and threw him over the side of the ship. 

I then turned and followed the others downward towards the bottom of the ship near the front. I was starting to think I had lost them when I heard voices coming towards me. Crap I must have gotten in front of them. I ducked behind an open door until they were passed me and then began to follow them. I removed the helmet and armor along the way in case I got into a fight I didn't want it to slow me down. 

I could hear the engines getting louder as we moved back so I figured we were near the back. Up ahead I saw the guard locking a door and turning to leave. He must have put Irvine and Selphie inside. 

As soon as he disappeared from sight I ran to the door and unlocked it. Opening it I expected to see Irvine and Selphie but instead found myself staring at the tail of the biggest T-Rex I had ever seen. 

I heard a scream near the other end and realized it was attacking them! It started moving forwards to where they were trapped against the wall and prepared to bite into them. I knew I only had seconds to think of what to do before it was too late. I couldn't help but notice that big old tail sitting in front of me so I raised Lionheart above my head and brought it crashing down into the last three feet of the tail. I cut clean through the thing and it flopped around on the floor. The T-Rex, surprised by this unexpected assault forgot about its meal and jumped forward away from us. Irvine saw me as I yelled at them and they took off running at me. We ran through the door and locked it behind me.

Selphie immediately dived at me and gave me a bear hug. Once Irvine was able to pry her off and I could breathe again I started to talk to them, 

"Come on we need to get out of here before they realize tha……

****

INTRUDER ALERT…..INTRUDER ALERT……

"Crap!" 


	8. Into the Fire!

Just in case anyone isn't aware of this, I don't own anything except for this plot. Sorry.

****

CHAPTER SEVEN

INTO THE FIRE…

"Crap, now we might have a problem!" yelled Irvine trying to be heard over the alarm. 

"Yeah, now come on and lets get out of here before reinforcements arrive!"

I turned to Selphie and Irvine and tossed them their weapons and gave Irvine some extra ammo I had brought with me. We started making our way down the hallway until we came up on a section with steam pipes and vents that created a small hiding place. We paused and listened for sounds of pursuit from in front or behind us. Hearing none we made our way farther forward until we came up on the stairs that would lead us to the top deck and the waiting helicopter. 

Suddenly we heard voices yelling and the sounds of several people charging down the stairs. Sneaking a quick glance around the corner I checked to see who it was coming towards us.

PING!

And almost ended up getting shot in the head by one of the soldiers. They had set up an ambush at the only door out of this level. I backed up and turned back to the others behind me. "Irvine, if I cause a distraction do you think you can snipe them?" He pulled Exeter out from his coat with one hand and tipped his hat at me before moving up next to me. "Ok, when I give you the signal, take out their sniper. I'll go for the other one." 

"You got it!" he replied and then crouched down to help steady his aim. I moved over a little and was just about to dive across the hallway when Selphie whispered "Hey! Be careful and don't get shot!" 

"Whatever!"

"Meanie." She replied and then slid back down the wall behind Irvine. I glanced over at him and nodded before pulling Lionheart out and stepping forward into the passage. I could see that the sniper was positioned on the balcony half way up hiding behind a railing. He saw me and started to turn towards me when Irvine leaned out around the wall and took aim. The sniper saw this though and realized what we were doing so he started to turn back that way. He managed to set his aim on Irvine but the last thing he saw was a bullet leaving Exeter and smashing through his rifles scope. 

Making my way up the stairs towards him I saw out of the corner of my eye that the other soldier had moved up a flight of stairs and was preparing to come over the railing above me. I spun and brought my blade up just in time to deflect his as he landed and thrust his sword at me. I parried his attack and then spun around 360 degrees and swung upwards at his undefended side. He barely managed to block but he did. I backed up slightly and we stared towards each other. And then for some reason he started laughing!

He looked at me and then down to where Selphie and Irvine had started to make their way up the stairs in case I needed any help. "Even if you get past me you will still die on this boat! You can't escape. We already knew you were coming before you even landed. One of the guards found the soldier you knocked out while in Esther and radioed in to warn us. We let you walk right into a trap. In fact this whole ship is going to explode in about five minutes. HAHAHAHA…….BOOM….ARRRRGGHHHH!" 

I looked back at Irvine who was blowing the smoke out of the barrel of his gun and grinning. He then looked at me and said "Why is it, that bad guys always have to stop and gloat every freaking time?"

Smacking my hand against my forehead I couldn't help but grin slightly at his comment. 

"Ok we need to hurry if we plan on getting out of here. I'll take point followed by Selphie. Irvine, you take the rear and cover us." 

"Ok, you got it boss."

"Booyaka lets go! Teehee!"

We continued up the stairs and in no time at all we were back in the lab that they had visited earlier. Except this time it was completely empty and even some of the computer and test equipment was gone. This was getting strange. Why would they blow up a boat this size just to take out three people? 

****

WARNING 2 MINUTES TO SELF-DESTRUCT…REPEAT 2 MINUTES TO SELF-DESTRUCT.

"Lets get out of here! Quick it's not much further!" 

We took off and ran forward as fast as we could through the lab and out the door to the final stair case. Once there we headed up and out onto the flight deck. We ran towards the helicopter and then as we came around the last corner we slid to a stop. Now we knew why the soldier was laughing at us! Standing between us and our escape was a very enraged T-Rexaur. They must have used a lift to bring it out of the cargo bay. 

****

WARNING 1 MINUTE TO SELF-DESTRUCT…REPEAT 1 MINUTE TO SELF-DESTRUCT.

"We don't have time for this! What do we do Squall?" blurted Selphie. 

Why is it always me who has to think of everything, dammit? I checked my remaining supplies in my belt pouch and realized I had two Aura Stones with me! "Selphie, can you fly that thing?"

"I can fly the Ragnarok can't I?" she replied sarcastically. A plan had formed itself in my head. I just hoped it would work. 

"Selphie, you get the chopper ready while we take care of the T-Rexaur. Irvine catch!" I yelled and Selphie took off around the beast while I tossed an Aura Stone over to Irvine and then I took mine and tossed it in the air over me. It broke open and the magic inside of it floated over me. Immediately I felt the raw power surge through me as I charged forward and began to hit repeatedly at any part of the monster that looked weak enough to be damaged easily and quickly. I emptied all ten shells into it and then dived back to my previous position. Then while it was still rearing up in pain from my attack Irvine moved in and loaded up a clip of pulse ammo and began pumping round after round into the T-Rex's exposed chest. Meanwhile I felt the second half of my limit magic build up to the level I needed. I decided to use Blasting Zone in hopes that the shock wave would knock the monster back far enough that it might go overboard. "Irvine, stay back I'm charged up!" 

He saw this and immediately took off towards the chopper to help Selphie. I raised Lionheart above my head and allowed the Renzokuken magic to flow out of me and into the blade. It built in strength for several moments before bursting forth high up into the sky. Once this happened I brought the gunblade back down and slammed the energy beam into the monster. The shockwave did exactly what I had hoped and pushed the T-Rex backwards. Just not far enough to send it overboard.

Then I heard a loud roar behind me and turned, thinking that maybe there were two monsters out here. I was right but this one I was happy to see. Selphie had gotten the chopper ready and then while we were fighting she had found tools and removed her Odine Bangle. Now standing before me was one of my first GF's I had gotten. 

Ifrit rose up into the air above me carrying with him a massive fire ball. He lifted it above his head and flung it at the T-Rex. It slammed straight into the beast and knocked it right off the side of the boat. With one last roar Ifrit faded away back into Selphie's mind to wait until he was needed again.

****

20 SECONDS TO SELF DESTRUCT… REPEAT 20 SECONDS TO SELF DESTRUCT

Uh-oh! Time to go! I took off as fast I could and dived into the waiting helicopter. As soon as she knew I was onboard Selphie pulled back on the stick and we shot up into the air and away from the ship.

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The ship suddenly looked like a balloon as it collapsed in on itself for a second before exploding outwards into millions of little pieces.

I leaned back against the seat and closed my eyes for a second to contemplate how bad a day I was having. And it wasn't even over yet! Oh well, what else could go wrong. I mean Omega Weapon is rampaging about somewhere and some psychotic general is trying to take over the world. And both of them probably want me and all of my friends dead. Hell, all I need now is a run-in with Seifer to make my day complete. HAHA at least that one won't happen.

YEP! Just another normal day in the life of a SeeD! 

"Hey Selphie, tell Ifrit I said thanks for the assist back there. And then head for Esther. But in the meantime fill me in on what you know about those guys and if you have any ideas where they were taking Laguna, Quistis and the others. The Ragnarok is at the Air Station. We'll use it to get back to Garden and regroup with the others. 

|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Roughly half an hour later found us back onboard the Ragnarok with our new attack chopper tucked snugly in the cargo hold. Selphie and Irvine were up on the bridge setting course for Balamb Garden and I was down in Observation Room. I was going over all the new information that I had just learned and putting it together with what I had learned in Deling City. It was starting to make some sense now. 

A rogue group of Galbadians acting on the orders of the late Vinzer Deling was taking out the leaders of the two strongest countries in the world. Which would put those countries at a severe disadvantage during an invasion. Plus if they used these collars that Selphie told me about then they would be nearly unstoppable. Especially with some of the new monsters that fell during the last Lunar Cry. I would bet money that they were responsible for releasing Omega Weapon too. If they could control Omega than SeeD would be in very big trouble. I still don't have a clue how it got here in the first place though. 

In the meantime I better make sure Selphie and Irvine are flying and not flirting. I do not feel like crashing again. I already got yelled at by Seplhie when she saw the damage done to the Ragnarok. Which brought me to another question. Where did that other ship come from that made me crash. This was the only Ragnarok still in existence. Or at least it was supposed to be. I will have to check with Esther and find out the specifics.

I had made my way to the bridge and found out that we were well on our way back to Balamb Garden. I walked over to the copilots seat and sat down to wait until we got to our destination. I realized as I was sitting their just how tired I was. I decided to get a little shut eye while I could. Just as I fell asleep I realized I had missed one very important detail. That was the fact that I knew of only one scientists who could design a ring to control monsters. And he worked in Esther.

To Be Continued………

Authors Notes: Hello all.

Sorry it took so long to get this out but I had a lot of ideas to mull over. I have a good idea now and plan to work on the next few chapters for several days before releasing them. Thanks to Athena88, Angelprinczess29, Rinoa.J and Robin Love for reviewing. And as always if you read this please review and let know me how it is. Thanks. Oh yeah the next chapter is going to have all the gang back together along with Seifer and his posse. Bye.

****


	9. Shockwave Pulsar.

****

CHAPTER EIGHT 

SHOCKWAVE PULSAR.

Omega Weapon flew around Battleship Island one final time before dropping down onto the ridge next to the entrance to the Deep Sea Research Center. Once landed he moved past it and over to a large section of raised metal near the center of the island. Rising up he sucked in his breath and fired a large beam of energy into the center of the structure. Once the smoke cleared he made his way into the gaping hole that used to be a freight elevator and began the long descent downward to the bottom of the pit. 

Upon reaching the bottom he slammed his way through the rusted out doors and out into a large room. The room had strange blue glowing walls and in the center a strange looking structure. It looked much like the ones used to contain the Sorceress Adel in Esther. This one was much larger and had a huge machine hooked to it. It looked like some sort of power source. Omega recognized it as a healing pod of some kind and knew that he had found who he was looking for.

The machine hummed as Omega moved closer to it. Inside of the structure something began to move about. It did it very slowly as if it were just awaking from a long nap. Stretching, it yawned tiredly before looking outwards to inspect the giant creature that had found its resting place. With a start he realized exactly who it was standing over him. 

**"What are you doing here?"**

Omega looked over the machine next to him for a moment before raising a giant claw and smashing the controls to pieces. The humming immediately stopped only to be replaced by fierce growling inside the container. Omega turned back to the creature and began speaking.

'Is that any way to treat an old friend?' Not a single word was spoken aloud. It was heard inside of the others head. 'Your Sorceress demands your assistance once again. Before she died she sent me back to find you and then together we are to destroy SeeD. Thus ensuring that they don't exist when she comes into power in the future.' 

**"I don't serve her anymore! Once she died, her control over my body was destroyed. I am free to make my own choices this time."**

'You pathetic excuse for a G.F.! Do you really think you can make a difference by helping SeeD? They will still be destroyed. And you will return to me with your tail between your legs.'

The creature inside the machine could take no more of this. Summoning all his strength he smashed through the wall and charged at Omega. He stood the same height as Omega but instead of armor he had a thick coat of black fur and a large mane of red fur around his neck. His tail ended in a serrated edge that could easily cut through most anything on the planet. Overall he looked much like a lion on steroids. 

He slammed into Omega and bit into his shoulder attempting to sever the nerves. Omega simply flicked him off of his shoulder like he was a fly. Regaining his balance he turned back and prepared to charge again. Omega saw this coming and simply slammed one of his giant clawed hands into the GF's head knocking him to the ground. 

**"I will not help you this time. I serve the Sorceress and her Knight who wear my ring. They are my masters. I betrayed them once unwittingly and I don't plan on making that mistake again." **With this he stood to his full heights and called upon his power to help him. 

"**Shockwave Pulsar!" **A bright sphere of light appeared around Omega and lifted him high into the heavens before slamming him into an overheated supernova. Then when the star exploded it sent him careening back down to Earth and slammed him into the ground. 

Omega lay on the ground looking beaten and broken. But only for a moment before his body quickly began piecing itself back together. The lion-like G.F. knew that it would only take a few minutes for Omega to heal itself. He also knew that if he was going to have any chance of beating it then he was going to need help. Rearing up on his hind legs he let out a fearsome roar that could be heard for miles.

****

"I am Greiver!"

He then turned and began his climb out of the room he had been using as a den since he escaped Time Compression. He had no more need for the Stasis Machine now that he was fully healed. Without even a backward glance at Omega Weapon he began his search for the ones whom he had once betrayed. This time though, he told himself, it would be different. 

|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

"Squall wake up!" 

"Huh, wha…. I'm awake, Selphie, I'm awake!"

"Good, because we just landed at Balamb Garden and I thought you might want to know." 

"Did you know that you talk in your sleep Squall?"

"Whatever" I replied as I sat up and looked around. Selphie and Irvine were both standing by the elevator and waiting for me. I grabbed Lionheart and we promptly made our way out of the Ragnarok and into the Garage. "OK, you guys are free to do whatever you want while I check in with Headmaster Cid. Don't go too far though. He will probably want to debrief you both about the situation in Esther. If you can, find Rinoa and Zell and fill them in too. Maybe one of them or even General Caraway might have an idea as to where they would take Quistis and the other hostages." Meet in the cafeteria in one hour."

Both of them gave a SeeD salute and then ran off to find the others while I headed for the third floor to see the Headmaster. I stopped in my room briefly and changed into clean clothes. I then threw my jacket back on and continued towards my destination.

In a few short minutes I found myself standing outside the door to Cid's office. I was just about to knock when I heard talking coming from inside so I decided to wait and not interrupt the meeting or whatever it was. Leaning against the wall I waited and began thinking about all that had happened in the last day. First we get sent to investigate Deling City. We crash land the Ragnarok. I almost get ran over by a frenzied herd of Grats and to top it all off Omega Weapon is running around and someone tried to kill Rinoa's father. Plus everything that happened in Esther is making matters worse because now we need to find out who is controlling the monsters and leading the remains of Galbadias army in an attempt to take out Esther and SeeD. Somehow I have the feeling that this is all tied together. 

I was so deep in thought that I didn't even realize that Headmaster Cid's door had opened and several people had walked out until they addressed me. 

"Hey Puberty Boy! How ya been?" 

I couldn't believe my eyes! Seifer and his posse were standing right in front of me. And right behind them stood Cid and Edea. Grabbing the handle to my gunblade I prepared for whatever was about to happen. Edea apparently saw the look in my eyes and moved in front of Seifer and approached me. 

"Matron, what are they doing here?" 

"They are no longer the enemy Squall. I read their minds and removed the last of Ultimecia's brainwashing from them. They wish to return to Garden and become SeeD's."

"I still don't trust him. Even before all of that happened he used to cause more trouble than he was worth!" 

Headmaster Cid had been quiet so far but now he stepped forward and calmly spoke his mind,

"They are not the threat anymore. I have already been informed of most of what has happened to your team. General Caraway, Rinoa and Zell filled me in on what has happened in Deling and they told me why you went to Esther. I still need your report for the rest but from what I have already heard I think we are going to need all the help we can get." 

"Hey, listen to him. I don't plan on attacking Garden any time soon so you can relax. Of course, I might try stealing Rinoa back from you." Smirked Seifer causing Raijin to start laughing until Fujin turned and kicked him in the shin. 

"SILENCE!"

"Seifer, that will be quite enough from you. You are a guest here and whether or not you stay depends heavily on your behavior!" snapped Edea before motioning to him and his friends to follow her back down stairs.

"I still don't trust them but I have urgent news for you sir and I cant wait any longer." I said this to Cid and began following him into his office to give my report. But not before turning to the still smirking Seifer and giving him my advice.

"You cause even the slightest amount of trouble and we are going to have a very long talk!"

Authors Notes:

Sorry anyone who is still reading. It took me longer than I thought it would to get this posted due to computer malfunction. I am well on my way with the next several chapters and you should see them posted over the next week. Please read and review. I love to know what people think of this story. And if you have any ideas for later chapters let me know and I will see what I can do. And once again thanks to all of those who have reviewed so far. It has been a great help.


	10. Prisoners!

Hey you know me! I don't own none of this! Well I own the plot and that evil general dude with the Jackal armor. And the other dude who talks to much about his sinister plans. And the…….AAAARRRGGGGHHH You get the idea. Now on with the story. And by the way. Please leave a review after reading this. Griever is breathing down my neck as I type. He said if I don't start getting more reviews than he is gonna blow my poor innocent (yet somewhat evil) computer into the next time zone. 

****

Chapter Nine

Prisoners!

Quistis had no clue where she was. Or for that matter how long it had been since she was captured in Esther. Laguna, Ellone and herself had all been blindfolded and tied once outside the Presidential Palace. They had then been dragged to a waiting helicopter and thrust on board. Kiros and Ward were also around somewhere. 

They had been separated after disembarking from the helicopter and being loaded onto another ship. From there she had no idea what had been happening other than the fact that the ships engines had been shut off a few minutes ago. Listening intently she could here the sound of approaching footsteps. Actually it sounded like several sets in unison. Which could mean only one thing. 

Soldiers!

And then several pairs of hands roughly yanked her to her feet and began dragging her out of the room she was in. Quistis tried to remember how many left or right turns she took but lost count after she realized that they seemed to be leading her in circles. 

Several minutes later and she heard the sound of a door being unlocked and then her blindfold was ripped from her head and she was literally tossed into a room. She tried to keep her balance but with her hands tied behind her back she was unable to and fell forwards on her face. 

She cursed under her breath and then rolled over so that she could get a look at her surroundings. As she began to sit up she felt a pair of strong hands grab on to her shoulders and fearing what would happen next she threw her head back to be rewarded with a grunt of pain as her head connected with someone's nose. 

"OUCH! That had to hurt. But it serves you right for not saying who you were before you tried to help her up." Yelled a feminine voice to the right of Quistis. Recognizing it as belonging to Ellone she quickly guessed whose nose she had just smashed. 

"Laguna?" She asked quietly "Is that you?" 

"Yeah it's me. Sorry about that, I should have warned you that I was there." He replied before moving into her line of sight. He looked about as bad as she felt. He had several bruises on his faces and his wrists had fresh blood on them from the chains that had been on just recently. And to top it off his nose looked off center thanks to her attempt at attacking him. 

"No, It was my fault. I should have checked who it was before I hit you." 

"Don't worry about it. We have bigger horses to fry." He replied before pausing to think about what he had just said. Before he could continue with his statement a voice could be heard through the wall from the room next to them. 

"Don't you mean fish, Laguna?" Quistis couldn't help but laugh at Kiros' statement despite their current situation. Laguna on the other hand just stood there scratching the back of his head. 

Looking around at her surrounding Quistis could see that they were in a holding cell of some type. The kind with no windows or obvious escape routes. Laguna and Ellone were in the room with her and apparently Kiros and Ward were being held next door. Standing up slowly Quistis checked to see what kind of injuries anyone might have. Ellone appeared to be all right and Laguna was too, other than his injuries to his face. 

"By the way Laguna, how come your face is all bruised up?" she asked while wondering silently to herself if he had tried some foolhardy attempt at escaping from their captors. 

"When they separated all of us in Esther I was taken to the command deck on the airship we were on and questioned by that psycho general from my office. Apparently him and another general from Galbadia are planning to use us as hostages when they try to take over Esther and Galbadia. They have some scheme cooked up about having some Omega Weapon thingy that will guarantee their victory in taking over the two countries! They also stated that if I willingly turned over leadership of my country to them, they would let all of us go." He paused to take a breath before continuing. 

"Then this other guy with weird armor came up to me and told me to tell him where the Sorceress and her Knight are at. When I told him I didn't know what he was talking about he beat the living crap out of me. I was then brought back here to wait for them to decide what to do with the rest of you." 

"The Sorceress and her Knight! Did they say what they wanted with them?" Quistis exclaimed. Squall and Rinoa! She knew she had to get out of here quick or they were all going to be in very big trouble. 

Quistis could only sit there in shock as she pondered all of the new information she had just received. Omega Weapon was here in their time and apparently working with these lunatics. And why did it want two of her friends? She took a deep breath before asking Laguna about it. 

He appeared to be thinking about it for a few moments before he replied, "They also said that Omega weapon hold the two of them the most responsible for the death of his sorceress and he wants his revenge." 

Ellone who had been quiet up this point stood up and walked over to Laguna and asked, "Uncle Laguna, you do remember who the Sorceress is don't you?"

Well of course I do! She's that nice young girl who saved Squall from that time warp!" And then he seemed to suddenly realize exactly who that meant her Knight was and then without another word walked over to the door and began inspecting it looking for some weakness or way to get out of the cell. 

Quistis meanwhile was still pondering this new information and when she realized what Laguna was trying she walked over to him and laid her hand on his shoulder to try and calm him down.

"Laguna calm down. If we can find a way to get my Odine Bangle off then I think Shiva could probably blow the door open."

****

"Quistis, my friend, I really wish you would consult me before saying things like that. There might still be a magic barrier set up on this ship. If there is I won't be strong enough to blast through it." Snapped Shiva from inside of Quistis' head. 

'Sorry Shiva I guess I didn't even think about it. I don't suppose you know of any way to get out of here before the guards come back for one of us.' 

"Actually I think it is already too late. I can sense someone moving closer but I can't tell what his intentions are. This Odine Bangle has made me weak. I am sorry." ****

'It's all right Shiva just save your strength. By the way how come only you are talking to me. I can't feel Carbuncle or Siren anywhere. Are they all right?'

"Yes they are fine but neither of them has been around as long as me so they are not as strong. It is taking a lot of my strength just to speak to you right now." 

'Well tell them that I am glad they are all right and then I want you to rest in case I need your help.'

****

"As you wish." She replied before fading into the back of Quistis' mind to wait until she was needed. 

Quistis then turned back to Laguna who was still trying to open the door and began to speak to him when suddenly the door was flung open and smashed right into Laguna's nose. Which of course sent him careening across the room to land in a heap on the floor and clutching at his injured face. 

Standing there in the doorway wearing an evil smirk on his face was the man from the presidential office and behind him was the man who had been interrogating Laguna earlier. This man stepped forward and walked over to Quistis and before she could even say anything grabbed her by the throat and lifted her off of the ground. 

"I will give you one chance to tell me where the Sorceress is and unless you give me a very good answer I will snap your neck! I know that she has been staying at Balamb Garden with you pathetic SeeD's. But I need to know who her knight is. I need the both of them intact and together." 

"You'll never get away with this. SeeD will stop you! And there is no way in hell I would tell you where or who her Knight is!" 

"Damnit you stupid women don't disobey us. If you wish to live tell me now!" And with that statement he raised his other hand and socked Quistis as hard as he could on her left cheek before dropping her to the ground. She lay there for a few moments waiting for her vision to clear before looking up to see what he would do next. He looked down at her and was in the process of pulling his leg back to kick her in the stomach when the other general suddenly grabbed him by the shoulder and threw him backwards across the room to slam into the wall. Quistis could only stare at the amount of strength the two of them had. And the gunblade hanging from her attackers belt along with his strange armor and the Jackal insignia on his chestplate made her fear for Squall and Rinoa's safety. For some reason the Jackal insignia sent a chill down her spine. She knew that Squall had more than proved he could take care of himself but something about this man scared her. Maybe it was just because she remembered that the Jackal was the main enemy of the lion. She tried to tell herself it was just a coincidence but she couldn't get her to believe it. Staring over at the man she noticed that he almost seemed to be the exact opposite of everything Squall stood for. While Squall was a honest and caring person who rarely showed anger(or any other emotion for that matter), this man seemed to anger easily and obviously enjoyed it. Now he wanted to hunt down and destroy Squall. And that scared her more than anything! 

By then the man had picked himself up from the ground and was staring at the other man with pure hatred in his eyes. 

"What the hell did you do that for Sedrick? You are lucky that I need your help or I would have disposed of you a long time ago." He yelled as he moved towards the man named Sedrick. Sedrick simply stared back at him and laughed.

"Garon, you armor covered twit! The day we released Omega from his cell he took control of all of this. You don't lead the men anymore than I do. And for your information we need the hostages alive. They are no good to us dead. Besides if you would have done your research you would know that the President over their has a son!" Replied Sedrick who was wearing a Generals uniform much like that of General Caraway. He seemed just as strong as Garon but also seemed to be the one with the most smarts. But what he had just said was what really had Quistis confused. 

A son? She didn't know that Laguna had a son. Looking over at Laguna she could see that he seemed to be growing angrier by the minute. 

He stood up and walked over to the two men but instead of attacking them like Quistis thought he would he instead began to speak. "Leave my son out of this he has nothing to do with any of this."

"Oh but he has everything to do with this. He's the Commander of Balamb Garden. If anyone knew where the Sorceress was and who her Knight was then it would be him!" replied Sedrick.

Quistis couldn't believe what she had just heard. Squall was Laguna's son! Now that she looked at Laguna she began to notice the similiarities between the two of them. Before she could ask anything though Garon looked at Laguna and told him, "I wish we could finish our conversation but I believe we need to go and meet this son of yours. I actually know a little about him and from what I hear he is rumored to be the best there is when it comes to using a gunblade."

He then followed Sedrick out of the room and just as he shut the door he looked back in and tossed out one last statement that turned everyone in the rooms blood cold.

"I look forward to proving that he isn't by adding his head to my trophy wall!"

TO BE CONTINUED!

Authors Note:

Sorry again that it took so long with getting this chapter out but I have been very busy and also had to overhaul my dang computer. Also to clear up the confusion I may have caused Garon is the man who was at the Main Gate in Esther with all the funky Body Armor. And Sedrick is the man who caught everyone in the Presidential Office. They are also responsible for releasing Omega and they are now under his control. Stay tuned for the next several chapters because they are going to have some really awesome fight scenes between Squall, Seifer vs. Garon, Sedrick


	11. Lion and the Jackal Part 1

****

CHAPTER 11

LION AND THE JACKAL

GALBADIAN BATTLESHIP DELING AVENGER

LOCATION: UNKNOWN

Sedrick turned and walked out of the room followed by Garon and they made their way towards the other end of their ship to the large hold where many of the troops were awaiting there arrival.

"Garon, are your troops ready for departure?"

"Yes they are." He replied as they approached a large gray metal door. "They are all fully equipped and they have all been briefed on what they are to do." 

"Good! But make sure that they use the new devices for tracking the sorceress' magic signal and that they take both her and the knight alive."

"What about the rest of SeeD?" asked Garon as he stepped through the door into the main hold.

"Crush them and destroy Garden entirely!" said Sedrick as he turned and walked back down the hallway towards the command deck of the Avenger. Partway down the hallway he turned back and added in a low voice, "Oh by the way! Make sure that this little vendetta you have against Leonhart doesn't cause any problems that could jeopardize the mission."

Garon simply looked back for a moment before letting the door slide closed with a loud bang. Once inside the hold he turned and stepped down the stairs to the main floor and looked out over the soldiers in front of him. 

Almost at once all of the soldiers snapped to attention and waited for their orders. Garon couldn't help but grin at all of the men in front of him. They were some of his best troops. The ship he was on had just over five hundred elite troops on board and there were the same amount of troops on each of the other three ships that made up the task force for this particular mission. 

"Ok listen up all of you! Is everyone clear on their mission? Any questions? We will be going in as part of the second wave. This is the most important one because if the first wave does their part right than Balamb Garden won't even see us coming until it is too late." Hearing a chorus of YES SIR from his troops Garon turned and stared up at huge cargo doors above the lift that him and his troops stood on. They would begin opening any minute now.

And now all he had to do was wait just a little longer and they would be in position to attack Balamb Garden. 

****

{-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------}

LOCATION: BALAMB GARDEN

"Hey Squall, you got a minute to talk?" 

Stepping out of the elevator from Cid's office I found myself immediately confronted by Rinoa, Selphie, Irvine and Zell. They all looked tired and dirty. Well it has been a rather long day so far. 

"What do you guys need?" I replied as I walked towards them, "I was just going to get something to eat and then I was going to assemble you guys and let you know about our next mission."

"Hey that works out perfect then. We can all talk over lunch and figure out our next move." Answered Irvine as they began to follow me towards the cafeteria. So much for a few minutes of brooding in privacy, I thought to myself before shrugging noncommittally and giving them my answer.

"Whatever."

Several minutes later found all of us sitting around a table in the back of the cafeteria and taking turns giving each other all of the details of our missions. Well except for Zell who was too busy stuffing hotdogs into his mouth. He had somehow managed to get a whole plate of them for once. 

Noticing that everyone had eaten their meals and finished chatting I decided to take the opportunity to explain our next objective. 

"As you all know we are still trying to figure out the location where Quistis and the other hostages are being held. Also we need to figure out what to do about Omega Weapon. Currently we have no idea as to where he is. As soon as we do find him Irvine will lead a strike team consisting of twelve SeeDs that will track him down and destroy him. Selphie and Zell will accompany him. Make sure you take all of your Guardians with you and check with Xu about extra gear and supplies that might help during the mission. Meanwhile Rinoa and I will attempt to hunt down the Galbadians generals that we ran into and attempt to rescue the hostages."

"Also we are preparing to make the Garden mobile again so that it can be moved quickly if the need arises." 

"Any questions?" I asked as I prepared to stand up and return to Cids office. 

"Yeah," asked Rinoa "when will Garden be switching to Mobile?"

I was just starting to answer when suddenly alarms began ringing and Nida's voice came over the intercom,

"Commander Leonhart to the Bridge! I repeat! Commander Leonhart to the bridge!" 

All five of us stood up and began to run towards the bridge to see what the problem was but we had barely made it out of the cafeteria when the first explosion rocked the Garden. 

"What was that?" yelled Rinoa who was only a few feet behind me. 

"I don't know for sure but it felt like it might have been a missile blast."

By now we had reached the elevator and we quickly rose to the top. As soon as we stepped out the elevator dropped back down to the first floor. I crossed the distance to the bridge elevator and in no time I was standing next to Nida and Cid looking out towards the Coast and a single dark shape out on the horizon.

Headmaster Cid turned to me and said, "That was a Galbadian Missile that just detonated near the main entrance." 

"Only one?" I asked as I looked through a set of binoculars to try and spot anymore coming at us. 

I focused the binoculars and was able to make out the shape of two Galbadian Warships steaming towards us at full speed. As I watched several small mushroom shaped explosions detonated on the front of one of the ships and immediately I saw smoke trails shoot up into the air. 

"Nevermind, here comes another wave of them!" I yelled before turning to Cid, "Sir, how long until we can take off?" 

"Uhhhmmm….. two minutes or so!" he said. "How long do we have?"

"I'm not sure? Maybe three minutes tops."

Cid immediately turned to Nida and ordered him to start the cycle for takeoff. I turned and grabbed the intercom and began to give orders to everyone.

"Attention! This is Commander Leonhart! We are under attack from Galbadian forces. All hands prepare for liftoff. We are going to head north and try to get away from the missiles that have been fired by Galbadian warships."

As I finished giving orders I turned to Nida to ask him how much longer until liftoff when suddenly I felt a vibration run through the deck and then heard a mechanical hum as the rings on top of the garden began their descent to the bottom of the Garden. 

The garden immediately began lifting up and away from its resting place as the missiles slammed into the ground around us. 

Nida gave a loud whoop of joy as we took off out towards sea. Before he could finish there was a deafening explosion and shaking as the final missile slammed into Garden. The blast threw all of us to the ground and I could hear a yell of pain from directly below us. I turned and made my way over to the edge of the deck to look down at my teammates and make sure they were all OK. Irvine was just finished curing Selphie's arm from where she had slammed into a wall and snapped it. Seeing that everyone was all right I made my way back to the control panel where Cid was leaning while staring out towards the direction of the two ships attacking us. 

He turned back towards me and exclaimed, "You better get ready for battle because they just launched a massive wave of troop transports and several large attack choppers. They apparently mean business this time."

"Sir, can you direct everyone to their positions? I have an idea that might even our odds a little."

"Yeah, I'll handle the orders while you get ready." He replied. Without another word I turned and headed for the elevator. As soon as I was below I addressed my team. 

"Selphie, I want you to pilot the Ragnarok while Zell uses the cannon and attempts to take out as many of those transports as possible. Don't try getting them all! Just try to slow them down long enough for us to get away. Irvine, head for the front gate and make sure everyone is set up there. Rinoa and myself will head for the quad and try to help with the defense. Move out every one! And stay safe whatever you do."

With that said we split up and headed or separate ways. As soon as we reached the Quad I was glad to see that most of the SeeD's there were already preparing for the battle. 

Cid's voice came over the intercom reporting that the airborne ships were approaching and that we should see them any second. Looking out I saw several of the chopper approaching around the edge of Balamb Island and closing in on our position. 

As soon as they came into range they began firing machine guns for cover and quickly dropped several platoons of soldiers into the quad. Within moments the sounds of battle could be heard from all directions. Rinoa immediately began casting powerful magic spells at any enemy who came close and throwing cure spells at any SeeD who looked hurt. A female SeeD yelled out in pain as she was hit by a thunder spell and fell to the ground in a daze. Seeing a Galbadian soldier step forward to finish her off I dived forward and slammed my Gunblade down on his gun causing the bullets he fired to ricochet harmlessly off the ground. While he was still off balance I kicked out and hit his knee with my steel toe and the brought Lionheart up and sliced him across the chest. Then turning to the injured SeeD I bent down to check her injuries. She was already starting to come to so I cast a quick Cura spell on her and moved on to find another opponent. 

I was just starting to move forward when I felt my self tackled to the ground. I twisted around and was about to punch my attacker when he jumped up and struck out with a gunblade that slammed into a Galbadian soldiers side and dropped him to the ground.

" I tried yelling but you must not have heard me Squall! That guy was about to take your head off. See I knew you needed me." 

Oh great I had just been saved by none other than Seifer Almasy. Jumping to my feet I looked around to see that most of the soldiers had been wiped out. 

Then looking at Seifer I decided to thank him,

"Whatever."

Seifer seemed to have noticed this to and had a sad look on his face. "Aww man I was hoping for more action."

"Don't worry Seifer there are plenty more coming. Now come on I want to have you where I can keep an eye on you so you don't decide to join back up with your old Galbadian buddies." 

"Oh come on! I just saved your life and you still don't trust me?"

"To be honest? NO!"

As we began walking over to where Rinoa was, the Intercom buzzed to life, "Squall, this is Headmaster Cid. Please report to the bridge immediately!" 

Hearing this I turned to Seifer and Rinoa and nodded towards the entrance. We immediately headed for the bridge. 

Once we got there we walked over to where Cid was and saluted.

"Sir, the first wave was succesfully pushed back with minimum casualties." 

"Good job Squall. It appears all the craft have retreated back to their ships and the Ragnarok is on its way back. We should be moving around the back side of Balamb soon so we will be safe from missiles for a while."

"What about the team at the front gate?" Asked Seifer. 

"The enemy never attacked the Gate team so they are all safe!" replied Cid.

Nida turned to us from the pilots controls and waved for our attention. Cid immediately walked over to see what he needed.

"Sir, the engines are starting to overheat. It's possible that they were damaged by one of the missiles." Reported Nida as he scanned the controls. 

Just as Cid was about to reply, there was a loud explosion followed by strange vibrations throughout the Garden. It was immediately by followed a loud whistling noise and then another explosion! 

"Sir, we have two more Galbadian warships dead ahead! They came out of a cove right on top of us and now they're shelling Garden."

Within seconds we began getting reports from both the Quad and the Front Gate teams yelling that they were getting overran by troops. Without waiting for orders I dived for the elevator and headed for the first floor. I had had no idea what I could hope to do but there was no way I was standing around while my friends were fighting for their lives. As soon as I reached the ground floor I moved towards the front gate just in time to see Irvine, Raijin, Fujin and several other SeeD's being forced backwards by a massive wave of enemy soldiers. 

Concentrating I called upon Bahumat and within seconds he appeared above the main entrance. He immediately sent down a massive blast of pure energy into the enemy ranks. Most of the ones already inside were incinerated but as soon as they fell more took their place. Among them I noticed someone I had seen before. 

The man who had attacked us in Esther. He was still wearing his strange armor and was currently swinging his gunblade around wildly and wiping out SeeD's left and right. 

Hearing noise behind me I turned to see that the Quad team was having the same problems. Rushing forward I charged at the other man with a gunblade. He saw me and immediately stepped forward towards me. 

"Squall Leonhart, I presume! I am Garon!" He said as he walked towards me, "I have been looking forward to defeating you for quite a while!"

"What do you want?" I replied as I stopped in front of him. 

"I want the Sorceress and her Knight as prisoners and I want you to die by my blade."

"You'll never get any of that so you might as well call your men off now!" 

"You are in no position to argue. My men already cut in through the hull and took the engine room. Plus you are surrounded and outnumbered! Besides I have bombs placed in the engine room that will go off soon."

The whole time he had been talking I noticed that Irvine had been sneaking towards his undefended back. I was just about to attack when I heard a scream behind and turned to see what it was. 

Rinoa! She was being dragged towards the Quad by a group of soldiers! They also had an unconscious Seifer being dragged along behind them. 

I was about to run that way when I heard Irvine yell a warning and I turned back just in time to see that Garon had pulled out a small handgun and was aiming it right at me! I jumped to the side as he fired. I felt the bullet tear into my arm as I hit the ground rolling. Climbing back to my feet I saw Garon and his troops falling back and retreating back to their ships. 

I turned and ran towards the Quad hoping to get there in time. But by the time I reached it the enemy ship was already lifting into the air and pulling away towards the enemy warships. I remembered the chopper we had captured and began heading for the garage to get it. I was halfway there when suddenly I felt my feet flipped out from under and heard a deafening boom from somewhere deep in Garden. Almost immediately Garden started tilting to one side and the power began flickering on and off. 

The bombs Garon had planted must have gone off already! 

Almost immediately I heard Cid's voice come over the intercom and he said something I never thought I would hear.

"All Hands Evacuate! Garden's hull has been breached and we are sinking fast. I repeat All Hands Evacuate!"

To Be Continued…… 

Authors Note: Sorry about how long it has taken for me to update but my computer was out of commission for quite a while. I plan on putting out more chapters soon. This one is a very rough draft but I wanted to get something out on FF.Net. I would love any suggestions anyone might have! Again please review. That is part of why I put this story out. I was hoping for constructive criticism. Thanks to Alonia Everclear and Athena88 for reviewing the last chapter. 


End file.
